ORLANDO, Oct. 25, 2018 /Christian
Newswire/ -- Most Americans say that religious beliefs are simply a personal
perspective and are not related to objective reality, according to findings
released today from the State of Theology survey.

The survey found that 60 percent of Americans agreed with the statement
"Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective
truth." Some 30 percent of Americans disagreed, while 10 percent said they were
not sure.

The 2018 State of Theology survey was conducted for Ligonier Ministries by
LifeWay Research, which interviewed a demographically balanced online panel of
3,000 American adults.

The breakdown of responses to this question was similar across the United States
and when analyzed by age, sex, income, and other factors.

Evangelicals were the only group in which a majority disagreed with the
statement (32 percent agreed vs. 62 percent disagreed). Regular churchgoers were
fairly evenly split, with no majority either way (45 percent agreed vs. 49
percent disagreed).

Chris Larson, president and CEO of Ligonier Ministries, said:

"Many Americans appear to think religious beliefs are on the same level as
whether someone likes one sports team over another or prefers to live by the
coast instead of in the mountains. This presents an urgent challenge to
Christians who understand that people's eternal destinies are at stake. The
Bible declares the objective truth of who God is and what He has done, supremely
through Jesus Christ. The idea that Christian beliefs are simply personal
opinions cannot be reconciled with the facts of history recorded in the Bible."

"Pontius Pilate famously said to Jesus, 'What is truth?' Many Americans seem to
have adopted the same casual approach to truth. But the Bible's message is true
for everyone, whatever they may think about it. As Francis Schaeffer said, the
Bible is 'true truth'—objective, public truth.

"Too few churches are robustly countering the relativism of the world around us.
This leaves many Christians simply unable to engage with the world's ideas, let
alone contend for the truth as the Bible urges us to do (Jude 3)."

The State of Theology survey was carried out from April 24 to May 4, 2018, and
the results are available online at
TheStateOfTheology.com.

Evangelicals were defined by LifeWay Research as people who strongly agreed with
the following four statements:

The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.

It is very important for me personally to encourage
non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice
that could remove the penalty of my sin.

Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their
Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

About Ligonier Ministries
Ligonier Ministries exists to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of
God in all its fullness to as many people as possible. To that end, Ligonier's
outreach today is manifold and worldwide. Founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul in 1971,
teaching fellows now continue and help lead Ligonier's work of discipleship that
Dr. Sproul began more than forty years ago. These teaching fellows are Drs.
Sinclair B. Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Steven J. Lawson, R. Albert Mohler Jr.,
Stephen J. Nichols, Burk Parsons, and Derek W.H. Thomas. Ligonier publishes
Renewing Your Mind broadcasts, the
Reformation Study Bible,
Tabletalk magazine, books through the
Reformation Trust Publishing division, and hundreds of teaching series. The
ministry also offers an undergraduate degree program through
Reformation Bible College. In addition, Ligonier hosts national and regional
conferences, provides an online learning community through
Ligonier Connect, answers biblical and theological questions through
Ask
Ligonier, streams twenty-four-hour Christian Internet radio through
RefNet, pursues
numerous
translation efforts in other countries, and makes available thousands of
unique educational resources online at
Ligonier.org.

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